Tag: gluten-free

Crème renversée à l’orange

Veronica Leave a comment

Or, as it’s more popularly known, crème caramel, or flan in Spain. I am unreasonably picky about this ubiquitous dessert. Absolutely no bubbles allowed: it should be a perfectly smooth, only just set custard that wobbles when you turn it out. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have been disappointed in restaurants. Always, always bubbly round the edges, or worse. Yet it takes no more time, only attention, to achieve a perfect one. This Simon Hopkinson recipe is the acme of baked egg custard. It simply can’t be improved on. I hadn’t made it for ages, but today we had a surfeit of eggs. I’m so pleased I did. It turned out perfectly. My only regret: I halved the recipe to serve two, so there’s none left.

Note: I know, the photo is aesthetically lacking, but I wanted to show the texture. Even then, the photo can’t convey the velvety smoothness. Never mind!

It’s most impressive when made as a single large custard in a soufflé dish, very carefully turned out onto a large plate. But you can of course make smaller individual ones in ramekins. This recipe makes four or six servings, depending on how greedy you are. Allow plenty of time for it to cool. You can chill it, but it’s best to take it out of the fridge half an hour before you want to serve it. If the recipe looks long, it’s not because it’s complicated — it’s because you need attention to detail.
Read More

Roast summer vegetables

Veronica 1 Comment

Roast vegetables
A recipe shamelessly pinched from Nigel Slater’s Observer column, because I want to make sure I always have it to hand. I suppose it’s a variation on escalivade really, but the carrots and spice make it quite different. I have changed it a little — Nigel said to put two tablespoons of harissa in it. I think harissa in the UK must be quite feeble. If I’d used that much of the ubiquitous Tunisian harissa in tubes that we get here, it would have blown our heads off. Naturally you can adjust the level to your taste and the strength of your harissa.

Make lots of this, as it’s ideal for keeping in the fridge and eating at room temperature when it’s so hot you don’t want to cook. A good party buffet dish too I should think.
Read More

Curried lentil and coconut soup

Veronica Leave a comment

Curried lentil and coconut soup

Another lentil soup! Similar ingredients to my previous post, but a quite different result. This one does work really well with red split lentils. I stumbled across it on the Food & Wine site, but amended it to suit my taste, since I found their version too bland and lacking spinach. The recipe makes a vast quantity, enough for at least six generous servings, so you can halve it if you want. As I was on my own, once it was cooked I ladled out enough for me into a smaller pan, and added spinach to that part. The rest will go in the freezer. It will certainly improve by being kept in the fridge until the next day.
Read More

Moroccan spiced lentil soup

Veronica Leave a comment

Moroccan spiced lentil soup

A rather eccentric, messy image complete with splatters, taken immediately before we dived in to eat it! Known as “still life on the run” in our household.

I believe this soup originated in Delicious magazine. Since I discovered it via sister-in-law R, I’ve cooked it multiple times, improving it every time. It has become one of my favourite soups. Delicious, healthy, low-carb diet friendly, vegetarian — what more could you ask?

The first thing to note is that the original recipe specified red split lentils. R didn’t happen to have any when she made it, so she used Puy lentils. Good move — having tried both ways, the Puy lentil version is vastly superior. Other than that, don’t miss out any of the ingredients — they are all essential. That said, you can get away with tinned tomatoes, but fresh are better. I particularly like it with cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

The serving suggestions top the soup off to perfection, with the lemon juice adding extra zing. This amount will make about four servings, unless you are greedy like us.
Read More

Flan libanais

Veronica Leave a comment

Flan libanais
Before I start, a humble apology to all the people who left comments over the last, er, five months … I’ve only just found them! Now all approved. And now, my first post for six months …

We had this dessert in our local pizza restaurant a month ago. It was so light and delicious that when I got home I googled it, and immediately found a recipe that looked like a very close match, at La Cuisine de Lya. It took me a while to get round to making it, as I first had to source rose water (I ended up ordering it online) and unsalted pistachios. Lya says you can omit the rose water, but I think it’s really worth making the effort as it adds a distinct exotic flavour which is what makes the dish special; with just the orange flower flavour it would be more run of the mill. I also replaced the sugar syrup topping with honey, because that’s what the restaurant did. Choose a light, well-flavoured runny honey (mine was from the Pyrenees), and avoid the bog-standard supermarket kind.

It’s ridiculously easy to make, and diet-friendly. It’s vegan too if you use plant milk, and sugar syrup instead of honey.This quantity will make four very generous helpings, or six small ones. Serve in pretty glass bowls or glasses.
Read More

Sourdough blini

Veronica Leave a comment

Sourdough bliniI came across this recipe via Google, and it’s such a quick and easy method of making blini, with good results, that I decided to record it. It doesn’t rely on the starter for rising, so you can use surplus starter straight from the fridge, or refreshed starter —- it doesn’t matter. The recipe makes a large quantity, but they keep well covered in the fridge for a couple of days, or you can freeze them. Reheat for 20 seconds or so in the microwave. As well as the obvious topping of smoked salmon and soft cheese, I like them with butter and honey, or maple syrup and cream.

Officially, blini are made using buckwheat flour (which is gluten-free), but if you don’t have any then wholemeal wheat flour is a fine substitute. And while they are quick and easy, try to plan ahead so you can keep the batter in the fridge overnight, or at least a few hours.
Read More

“Asian” salad

Veronica 1 Comment


I think I could live on Spanish salads, at least in the summer months. They’re always so colourful, and usually include protein and a bunch of vitamins, with different textures and a balance of sweet and sharp. Fruit often features, especially on the Costa Tropical, where avocados and mangos are a major crop.

I’ve already featured ensalada tropical; this salad is one we had in our favourite restaurant, which describes it as “ensalada asiatica”. It doesn’t seem that Asian to me; I guess it’s because it features Thai sweet chilli sauce. This is Steve’s first attempt at replicating it, and it was a little on the sweet side; next time about half of the mango will be replaced with slices of orange, so that’s how I’ve written the recipe. It was absolutely delicious though. I’m normally ambivalent about prawns but these were amazing; I am a convert now.

The basic recipe is below; adjust quantities and proportions according to taste, and you don’t need to include all the elements as long as there’s a good balance of crisp, soft, sweet and sharp. Needless to say everything should be perfectly ripe. If you can’t get miel de caña (a very local product), pomegranate molasses or maybe reduced balsamic vinegar would be good substitutes.

We eat this as a starter, but you could make it a light main course.
Read More

Hazelnut pesto

Veronica Leave a comment


I can’t even remember the last time I made pesto — it must be decades ago. I do usually have a jar of commercial pesto in the fridge for perking up pasta dishes though. I was impelled to try by the massive bush of basil in the tub outside the door — I’ve never had such a flourishing plant, while everything else wilts in the heat.

I had some leftover roasted hazelnuts from a salad, so I used those instead of pine nuts. Excellent idea — the toasty flavour really came through. And fresh pesto is an eye-opener — so zingy and green. If you have a food processor, that’s the obvious tool — I didn’t replace mine when it broke, so I used the mini chopper to start with and finished off with a stick blender. I’m not hardcore enough to use a mortar and pestle.

This recipe makes a small jar — it will keep for about a week in the fridge covered with a slick of olive oil, but it’s best to use as soon as possible.
Read More

Roasted tomatoes with labneh

Veronica 2 Comments

I’m posting this recipe mainly as an advert for Sabrina Ghayour’s book Simply. A revelation. I know next to nothing about Persian food, but this was a 99-centime Kindle deal. My first experience of a cookbook on Kindle too — I was very dubious, but it works pretty well on the iPad.

This is the first recipe in the book, and the first we tried. It’s a cracker. Within about three weeks we’ve had it three or four times. Making labneh was another first — I had no idea how easy it is. We now have jars of it preserved in olive oil.

Ingredients: I did find za’atar easily at the spice stall in the market. Pul biber (mild chili flakes, mainly produced in Turkey), an ingredient in many recipes in this book: nope. Eventually I bought some online, and it was well worth it; it brings a lovely smoky, complex flavour and I foresee I’ll be using it regularly. Alternatives: Mexican ancho pepper or (maybe) piment d’Espelette.

Again I urge you to try this, and then buy this book or any of her others. Such a burst of exotic, sunshiny flavours. A great tapa or starter.
Read More

Pride of the Punjab

Veronica 2 Comments

I got a Label Rouge free-range chicken on special offer, only 7 euros, and decided I fancied a change. Suddenly I remembered a recipe from an ancient Josceline Dimbleby book, one of those little ones they used to sell in Sainsbury’s in the 1980s, for, I think, 50p. A Traveller’s Tastes, it’s called, and it’s divided into sections of half a dozen recipes from different parts of the world. She has been pretty much forgotten now (try Googling her to see what I mean, the results are scanty). But most pages of this book are spattered with sauces and other ingredients — I used to use it a lot. See also … this blanquette still features on our menu regularly over thirty years after I bought the book. This is another of her recipes that deserves a wider audience.

This recipe is from the “India and Burma” section. Unusually for an Indian recipe, it features a whole chicken. It’s easy to do and the sauce is deliciously aromatic. I serve it with simply boiled Basmati rice; a green vegetable is a good idea too. Get started early because it needs to marinate for at least an hour.
Read More